[Mr.Kimball]

I have looked at the "advantages", if you can call it that. Coal provides jobs, cheap energy (but very dirty), and is very important to our economy. But the nation is changing, people see that our old ways are destroying our planet. We cant continue to do things the way we are now. At some point, we will have to get away from coal, so why not start that change now, lets begin to make this transition, and stop holding ourselves back. People in the coal industry claim that coal is our only hope for the economy, and if there is any truth to that, its no ones fault but our own. We have to look past coal, because one day it will be gone.

And what would you propose that people in Knott Co. do ? The only things in eastern Kentucky that people have to generate income, comes from either coal, oil, gas, or timber. There is nothing else. We have no manufacturing plants, and we never will. Without any of these resources my friend , you would be one of the first to stand in line and file for that government assistance check.